Science, Mathematics, & Technology Timeline

Modern Present - 1950

Summary of change:

Environmental: Humans and their livestock (mostly pigs and cows) now have 22 times the mass than wild mammals. Domesticated birds have two times the mass of wild birds. Plant mass has halved since civilization began.

2019

China’s Chang’e 4 lands on the dark side of the moon. Its biosphere germinates the first seeds (cotton) on the moon. January 3, 2018. Source

First image of a Black Hole is recorded with the help of Katie Bouman, who developed the algorithm necessary to create the image. The black sphere captures all light with its massive gravity. The photons (light) that surround the event horizon create the glow as matter spirals into the hole. The black hole is at the center of the Messier 87 (M87) galaxy, 53 million light years from Earth. It has a mass of 6.5 billion suns with an event horizon a bit larger than our Solar System, itty-bitty by cosmic standards.

2018

Number and intensity of wild fires increase.

California Camp fire sets a record for the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history. Burns 153 336 acres, destroys 18 804 structures, displaces 52 000 people and kills 85 people.

Japan's Hayabusa 2 spacecraft drops multiple probes onto the surface of the Ryuga Asteroid. The probes hop across the asteroid: take pictures, measure temperatures, magnetism, look for water and organic molecules. The main spacecraft will land three times and collect samples and return to Earth in 2020. Source See Hayabusa1.

NASA announced its Mars rover found evidence for ancient life and methane in the Martian atmosphere, suggests microbes have existed and still might exist today.

2017

Mycoplasma mycoides JCVI-syn3.0 has 473 genes and was created by J. C. Venter. He started with the living organism Mycoplasma genitalium, the smallest organism (has 525 genes) and the first organism to be sequenced, by removing and adding genes until it sustained life and reproduced.

First time police use a robot to kill a suspect

After a sniper killed 12 police officers in Dallas, police armed a small robot with a bomb and detonated it next to the shooter.

2016 March

The Great Math Mystery

According to Mario Livio, all numbers (one, two, ...) are invented concepts, and humans have discovered that numbers have all kinds of intricate relationships. Humans invented the concept and then discovered the relations among the different concepts. Therefore, math is both invented and discovered. It may feel like it's already there, but it comes from the creativity of human beings. Source

Cruise ship Crystal Serenity along with 100 tourists steamed from Alaska to New York through the Northwest Passage for the first time in recorded history.

2015

Paris agreement on climate change.

2012

Higgs boson discovered at CERN on July 4, 2012.

Peter Ware Higgs, a theoretical physicist proposes the electro weak theory and broken symmetry could explain the origin of elementary particle mass in general and W and Z bosons in particular through a Higgs mechanism. This same mechanism was proposed by other physicists about the same time and it predicted the existence of a new particle, the Higgs boson. Both discoveries add support for the Standard Model of particle physics.

On March 14, 2013, the Higgs boson was tentatively confirmed to be + parity and zero spin. Making it the first known fundamental scalar particle to be verified in nature.

Curiosity arrives on Mars and begins to sift soil and rock samples for organic molecules. in 2015 from two different sites it finds evidence of a goopy fossilized building block (kerogen) for oil and gas on Earth were found, sulfur bearing carbon rings, and traces of methane in the atmosphere rise and fall with the season.

Voyger I entered intersteller space on August 25, 2012. In another 40,000 years it will leave the solar system and the Sun's gravitational influence. Source Ed Stone

Google brain project created an algorithm that was capable of learning to identify a cat.

2010

First spacecraft to land on an asteroid and return to Earth is Japan's Asteroid Explorer Hayabusa (MUSES-C). It traveled to Itokawa asteroid and brought back samples. It also was the first to use ion engines to navigate. Source

2008

Scalbard Global Seed Vault on the island of Spitsbergen near Longyearbyen Norway opens. It was created to preserve a wide variety of plant seeds as spare copies held as a worldwide gene bank in case of a regional or global crises. Source

2007

The number of people living in urban areas (cities) is greater than the number of people living in rural areas.

2005

1996

First mammal, Dolly the sheep, is cloned. Followed by dogs, rabbits, pigs, and primates in 2018, with Zhongshan Zhongshan and Hua Hua.

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is opened for signatures. Nations have signed it, but not all have ratified it. However, most nations agreed to the verification procedures and are gathering and transmitting data to the CTBTO headquarters. Thus, no nuclear explosion goes undetected.

1994

Self flying plane (autonomous vehicle)

A Boeing 737 with a Global positioning system (GPS) landed itself 110 times in a row. Source

1993

Congress killed the Superconducting Super Collider

1992

Confirmed microwave background radiation of the big bang

The COBE ( NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer satellite) team announced they detected the three-degree Kelvin electromagnetic background radiation in all directions of the sky that was emitted 380,000 years after the Big Bang.

1991

Al Gore introduced legislation to create ARAPANET, a public network that became the internet, which will eventually connect anyone anywhere instantly. See 1990, 1989.

1989

Tim Berners-Lee designs the Distributed Information System (internet) for particle physicists to communcate more effectively and efficiently. See 1990 and 1991.

1988

The first world leader, Margaret Thatcher, calls for action on climate change.

1987

Treaty to ban chlorofluorocarbons, to protect the ozone layer, is ratified by 197 countries.

1986

Nuclear power plant in Pripyat, Ukraine (Chernobyl) explodes to become the worst nuclear accident in the history of nuclear power.

1983

Organ Transplant

Organ transplants were largely unsuccessful because the body rejected the new organ. Thomas Starzl worked for many years to improve on transplant success. First with the drug cyclosporine, approved by the FDA in 1983. Later with tacrolimus, approved by the FDA in 1994. Over his career he investigated: preservation, immunosuppression, infectious diseases, oncology, growth factor physiology, and immunology. The Puzzle People: Memoirs of a Transplant Surgeon. University of Pittsburgh Press.

1980

Micro Computers

1980

Diamond v. Chakbrabarty - Can life be patented

Asked to rule if a patent for a human-made, genetically engineered bacterium capable of breaking down crude oil, a property which is possessed by no naturally occurring bacteria could be patented.

At questions is: are living things patentable?

Does a micro-organism constitutes a manufactured or composition of matter?

Ruled, it was a nonnaturally occurring organism that was manufactured or a composition of matter of human ingenuity with a distinctive name and character of use.

1978

Global positioning system (GPS)

Brad Parkinson and his team had proof of the concept for a global positioning system (GPS) . Source

1977

Gossamer Condor, became the first nonstop human-powered flight in 1977. The Condor designed and built by Paul MacCready stayed aloft for seven minutes and flew a figure eight course. The flight won a prize of $100,000, which was offered by British industrialist Henry Kremer 18 years earlier. The Condor now hangs in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. More about Paul and ...

Have Blue, the first stealth aircraft designed and built at Lockheed's Skunk Works took flight over Nevada. More

Voyger 1 is launched and continues its voyage.

Voyger 1 was launched Septeber 5, 1977.

In 1990 the blue dot photo 2,was taken.

On February 17, 1998 it became the most distant human made object

In 1998 it crosses the termination shock

On February 13, 2010 it passes the reach of the solar wind

On August 25, 2012 in reaches interstellar space

Photo of Earth taken by Voyager 1 between Uranus and Neptune. Original: NASA JP

Carl R. Woese discovered cells whose 16S rRNA genetic materials were evolutionary older than known bacteria. This discovery resulted in a three-domain (archaea, bacteria, & eukaryote) biological classification system and understanding of how evolutionary differences can be used for classification. His work lead to the separation of prokaryotes into two groups: Bacteria and Archaea. Woese reasoned the differences in genes of these two groups and the eukaryotes (multicellular fungi, plants, & animals) to be classified as three separate domains.

1972

First use of precision guided bombs

On July 23rd, laser-guided bombs were used to target and destroy the Than Hoa Bridge and Longbien Bridge. The Than Hoa Bridge was destroyed by a 3,000-pound laser-guided bomb dropped by an F-4 Phantom jet, and Longbien Bridge was destroyed by a 2,000-pound TV-guided bomb. Source

Apollo 11 Neil Armstrong is the first man to step on the moon and first broadcast from the surface with "One small step for man, a giant leap for mankind." Accompanied by Buzz Aldrin & Michael Collins. Michael orbits the moon. Includes a two and one-half hour moon walk.

Apollo 13 Third planned lunar landing, however, the lunar landing is aborted when an oxygen tank explodes two days after launch. Mission control and astronauts ( Jim Lovell, Jack Schwigert, Fraed Haise) engineer a solution and return safely to Earth. 4, 11, 1970

After Apollo 17 the Apollo program goes on to launch Skylab and end with the docking of Apollo - Soyuz vehicles.

1968

Tragedy of the Commons

Garrett Hardin writes his Tragedy of the Commons to describe problems for common resources. He explains how herders, who seek to maximize production, can increase herd size and over graze a common range. Production that exceeds the range's capacity will cause livestock to suffer, production to fall, and the ultimate tragedy: no rancher being able to graze the field, due to overconsumption. However, persuasive forces, such as: from a collective cooperative agreement or monarch who apply coercion or social pressure for conservation of land could achieve a sustainable environmental with appropriate management. The idea of tragedy of the commons can be expanded to other land uses. Provide food, shelter, aesthetic value, watershed for quality water to sustain agriculture and human health; conservation of wild life; healthy oceans; clean atmosphere with balanced amounts of oxygen nitrogen, carbon dioxide, life sustaining climate; transportation; and intellectual knowledge rights.

Har Gobind Khorana, found that DNA's four letter codes: A, T, C and G are transcribed into RNA and then translated, three at a time, to build proteins with amino acids. He studied nucleic acids, molecules that make genes, and confirmed the 64 unique three-letter words that determine the order of amino acids needed to make specific proteins.

In 1972, Khorana made a second breakthrough, constructing the world's first synthetic gene. In 1976 he injected the gene into a living bacterium. Source The Gene

1964

Detected electromagnetic background radiation that seemed to be coming from all directions of the sky. Thought to be emitted 380,000 years after the Big Bang. See 1992

16 October 3 pm China detonated its first atomic bomb and announces its policy of no first use in a conflict.

Qian Xuesen was born in China. Received a scholarship to MIT gained a security clearance and worked on classified weapons research in the U.S. During the Red scare the FBI revoked his clearance and put him under house arrest. He returned to China and worked on their nuclear weapon program, ballistic missle program, aerodynamics, and systems engineering to control social science and engineering problems (Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River). Setting the stage for state ran surveillance to control reality later in 2016. Source

James F. Holland researches and develops combination chemotherapy as a treatment of acute leukemia in children based on two key concepts: first, cancer cells are naturally resistant to chemotherapy, and second, resistance can be overcome more effectively when multiple drugs are given at the same time instead of one after another. His research changes acute lymphoblastic leukemia from an incurable illness to one with a high survival rate.

1963

Treaty to ban atmospheric nuclear testing to eliminate radioactive fallout as a source of pollution is signed.

First live instant replay on TV was run in the third quarter of the Army v. Navy football game, December 7, 1963.

At 10 she wins a prize for her story published in St. Nicholas Magazine 1918.

Graduated Parnassus, Pa. High School 1925

Graduated Pennsylvania College for Women (Chatham University) 1929

Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory

Johns Hopkins University MA in zoology in 1932.

Wrote 52 short radio programs on marine life called Romance Under the Waters in 1935.

Undersea Atlantic Monthly article published in 1937

Works at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a fish & aquatic marine biologist 1939-1951

Reader's Digest turned down her article on DDT effects on the environment because it was thought to be too controversial. Chemical companies claimed it was only harmful to bugs.

The Sea Around Us prize winning book, published in 1952, a study of the oceans. Followed by The Edge of the Sea in 1955.

Japanese seamen on board the Lucky Dragon die of radiation exposure 1954. She asked. How does it take to harm life? How much to kill? Strontium 90. leukemia, birth defects...

Help Your Child to Wonder. 1956

Our Ever-Changing Shore. 1957

Silent Spring published 1962 Relates pesticide effects to radioactive build up. What is a wise use of pesticides?

CBS Reports with Eric Sevareid airs The Silent Spring of Rachel Carson on national television 1963. Aired in spite of the fact all sponsers with drew commercial support.

Who does the land, air, forest, water belong to? What is the commons?

She set out to save a species ... Us.

Big box store architecture can be tracked to 1962 when Walmart, Target, and Kmart stores open a few months apart. Inside stores with huge areas of undivided retail space for customers to purchase large supplies of retail goods and outside big parking lots with easy access to highways to attract shoppers.

Two Telstar communication satellites were launched. The first in July 1962 and the second in May 1963. They enabled the first TV signals, telephone calls, fax images and live transatlantic feed to be relayed from space.

1961

December 1961. President Kennedy authorized the use of defoliants in Vietnam.

1960's

The Green Revolution, and Norman Borlaug developed new strains of wheat and rice to use in developing countries for higher yields. He first developed a short strain of wheat and other varieties for Mexico, which increased wheat production three times.

Later, India and Pakistan ask him to help their countries with their agricultural revolution.

He developed techniques to create mutations for finding new hybrids, which he used to develop different strains of wheat, rice, sorgum, millet, cassova, triticale, maize, and tubers. It is estimated these varieties were able to save billions of people from starvation. The down side is the large amounts of chemical fertilizers and pesticides required to maintain the high yields. Source

Over 90% of homes in USA had a television.

Laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) is invented.

Laser is a device that amplifies coherent light by energizing electromagnetic radiation.

The first laser was built by Theodore H. Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories, based on ideas by Charles Hard Townes and Arthur Leonard Schawlow.

Frank Drake turns the telescope at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory toward Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani (close stars) to search for interstellar communications (project Ozma). A high altitude plane signaled a false alarm. However, it demonstrated such a search is reasonable and feasible.

1958

America enters space age

ARPA launched America's first communication satellite (SCORE) into orbit aboard an American Atlas rocket. A previously recorded meassage was loaded onto the satellite before being launched. On December 19, 1958 with a second attempt a radio signal from Earth was able to turn it on and President Eisenhower's pre recorded speech was broadcasted on a short-wave radio frequency from outer space. Message below: Source

This is the President of the United States speaking. Through the marvels of scientific advance, my voice is coming to you from a satellite circlin g in outer space. My message is a simple one. Though this unique means, I convey to you and all mankind, America‚Äö√Ñ√¥s wish for peace on earth and good will to men everywhere.

NASA launced its first satellite, Explorer 1, into space on January 31, 1958 aboard a Jupiter C rocket developed by the team headed by Dr. Wernher von Braun. The primary scientific purpose was to measure cosmic ray radiation in Earth orbit.The experiment, conducted by Dr. James Van Allen, measured a lower cosmic ray count than expected. This lead to the discovery of the Van Allen Belts of charged particles concentrated in space by Earth's magnetic field. Source

Nuclear research

ARPA funded research to investigate the possibility of creating an electron shield, to destroy enemy intercontinental ballistic missiles (icbm), by exploding atomic bombs in the atmosphere. The funding included an actual icbm launch with an atomic bomb that was exploded in the atmosphere to test feasibility (ARGUS test). Source

Investigate the creation of a space vehicle powered by hundreds of nuclear bombs (Orion).

Lego bricks were invented by the family company found by Ole Kirk Kristiansen in 1932. The word Lego was shortened from Danish leg godtz - meaning play well. In 2018 the company moves to make environmentally responsible bricks with a small environmental footprint. Source

Anthropocene Epoch (present - .01 mya)

Anthropocene Epoch (present - .01 mya) can be identified by the measurement of radioactive traces in organic materials that was alive during the atomic bomb tests of the 1950's and 60's. Might be considered as a sign post, along with the introduction of plastic into the environment, for the extinction of many species. Will humans be among them?

1957

The start of the Space Age
Sputnik launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957

Sputnik 1, the earth‚Äö√Ñ√¥s first artificial satellite, was launched. Shortly after, two more Soviet satellites were launched, one with a dog, into space. The satellites orbited Earth approximately once every 90 minutes.

Strategic Air Command (SAC) south of Omaha, NE 1957

Under General LeMay SAC employed nearly a quarter of a million men and its hangars contained over 2,000 strategic aircraft, including over 700 B-52s.

1956

Shipping container

was invented and patented in 1956 by Malcolm Mc Lean. He was a trucker who owned and operated a large fleet of trucks. Will create faster intercontinent trade.

1954

Solar cell

On April 25, 1954, Bell Labs announces the invention of the first practical silicon solar cell. Originated from Aleksandr Stoletov the first solar cell based on the photoelectric effect in 1894. Source Timeline solar cells

1953

Stanley Miller created amino acids. His experiment put an electrical charge in a flask with methane, ammonia, hydrogen and water. The results may explain how organic materials were created on Earth billions of years ago.

By The original uploader was Carny at Hebrew Wikipedia (Transferred from he.wikipedia to Commons.)

James Watson and Francis Crick demonstrated a model for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) as a double helix twisted ladder. Essential for understanding how genes control the chemical processes within living organisms.

1952

Maria Tharp discovered the Mid-Atlantic Ridge from mapping data.

When Maria transferred data from a 5000 foot scroll onto onto sheets of white linen mapping the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean a length rift valley appeared. Such a ridge was suggested by Wegner's theory of continental drift. However, most people believed continents were to massive to drift so she was told by her superior to redo her work. Later when she did and the results were compared to another map by Bruce Heezen both described rift valleys in the mid-ocean ridge. The results were published and read in 1957, by the ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau. He doubted Tharp‚Äö√Ñ√¥s conclusions and tacked her map to the dining room wall of his ship, determined to prove her wrong. However, after viewing film he took of the Atlantic Ocean floor, he saw a deep valley ridge where Tharp had mapped it. Source "Connect the Dots: Mapping the Seafloor and Discovering the Mid-ocean Ridge" by Marie Tharp, Chapter 2 in Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia

Great London Fog or Big Smog

A five day air-pollution event in the United Kingdom caused by cold weather and a lack of wind to move massive amounts of smoke created by the buring of coal and other fossil fuels for home use, transportation, and industry was believed to have killed 12,000 and sickened 25,000. It led to the Clean Air Act 1956. Source

First amino acid sequence of a protein

Frederick Sanger found a protein is a genetically created sequence of amino acids. He used this ideas to determine the complete amino acid sequence of two polypeptide [protein] chains - bovine insulin A (1951) and bovine insulin B (1952). Next he he determine how amide groups were distribed, and the location of the disulphide linkages which completed his deduction of the structure of insulin, in 1954. Source

1951

Henrietta Lacks died of cervical cancer on October 4, 1951, at age 31. Cells were taken from her body and used to create the HeLa cell line. These cells were found to grow quickly, were very hardy and survived longer than usual human cells. They became widely used in thousands of medical research experiments (cancer, polio vaccine, HIV, effects of toxins and radiation on cells, gene mapping, testing sensativity of cosmetics and other substance on cells, invitro fertilization, ... ). Since the cells were taken without her or her families permission their use and ownership eventually began discussion on ethical and legal use of peoples cells and genetic material. Source

1950 is designated as B.P. (before present)

Willard Libby, invents carbon-14 dating around 1950. Therefore, scientists agree to use January 1, 1950 as the reference date for before present (BP) when dating.

1946

French textile engineer fashion designer Louis Reardé designs a two piece swim suit, the bikini (Bikini Atoll is where atomic bombs were being tested), and has Micheline Bernardini model it on July 5, 1946. Previously bikini like clothing is carved on a statue in Turkey about 5,600 BCE and paintings and other artifacts from Greece and Rome also show bikini style clothing.

1945

Manhattan Project's Trinity test successfully detonated the first atomic bomb in Alamogordo, New Mexico on July 16, 1945, at 5:29:45 a.m.

1944

Frozen food Clarence Birdseye learned from the Inuit that trout caught through holes in the ice could be frozen instantly in the air (which was 30 degrees below zero) tasted like it was fresh trout when it was cooked later. Unlike when food was frozen in the more usual way. Later in 1944 he developed a flash freezing method to create frozen meals and vegetables and changed the way the world would eat. Provided peole with quality food that wasn't in season. Source and more.

Erwin Schrodinger publishes What Is Life. He answers: " ... how can the events in space and time which take place within the spatial boundary of a living organism be accounted for by physics and chemistry?"

1943

First digital speech encryption system, SIGSALY or The Green Hornet, was developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories and built by Western Electric. The communication was from Washington to London and during WWII. Confidential talks between British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and US President Roosevelt. The system used the highly-secure One-Time Pad (OTP) encryption. Source

1942

1941

Penicillin Howard Florey and Ernst Boris Chain isolated, purified, and created a injectable form of penicillin to use as an antibiotic.

1940

A study showed bacteria could develop a resistance to penicillin. Even before penicillin was used to treat infections. However, the idea of killing bad bacteria and an increase in the discovery of antibiotics would accelerate the use of antibiotics in ways to contribute to resistant microbes rather than considering a more targeted and efficient use of antibiotics to reduce the evolution of drug resistant organisms.

1939

DDT was found to kill insects and began to be used extensively as an insecticide. Sprays attached to mowers to spray yards before picnics, shelf paper with DDT embedded, paint, varnish, there were no limits on its use. Thought it would raise the standard of living, rid the world of malaria, fire ants and other pests that caused disease and harmed crops.

1936

1936 - 1938

City planning for green space and community ...

Greenbelt, Maryland, was constructed from 1936 to 1938 by thousands of laborers, through the New Deal programs. Clarence S. Stein was a consultant and created design guidelines. Later Stein worked to preserve the town as an example of socially and environmentally responsible community design that could be a prototype for future desgins. Designs that combined superblocks of houses and apartments that had pedestrian walkways through communal green space which joined to a central area with commercial and recreational structures separate from roads for automobile travel. In addition, the federal government promoted cooperative enterprises and associations in Greenbelt as a way to foster affordability and an enduring sense of community. While the cooperative nature of the towns were deemed a failure, the physical layout of the town was replicated by private developers. Source information related to the political aspects of this social experiment. Source

1932

Sulfa drug and antibiotics

Sulfa, also called sulfonamide, a synthetic antibiotic with a sulfanilamide molecular structure was the first chemical substances systematically used to treat and prevent bacterial infections in humans. Their effects were first observed in 1932, by Gerhard Domagk who noticed that red dye Prontosil killed Streptococcus infections in mice. Later researchers found the active agent was sulfanilamide, or para-aminobenzenesulfonamide, a metabolic product of Prontosil.

1929

Edwin P. Hubble supported the expansion of the universe with his measurements of shifting spectral lines of light emitted from distant galaxies.

1928

Penicillin. Alexander Fleming accidentally contaminated colonies of bacteria with penicillium and noticed the bacteria in those areas did not grow. He isolated the mold, grew it, and found it contained a substance capable of killing many bacteria that infect humans.

Dirac and the electron wave equation and the positron

In 1928 Dirac presented to the Royal Society of London a relativistic wave equation for the electron. His equation required four wave functions and introduced spins. It included an extra set of solutions with negative values of energy. In 1931 Dirac suggested this implied the existence of the antielectron, or positron. Laer discovered in cosmic rays by Carl Anderson.

1924

Hans Berger invented the EEG (electroencephalograph) that recorded brain waves. He also discovered the alpha wave.

1919

First evidence to support Einstein's Theory of General Relativity

May 29, 1919, during a solar eclipse, the path of star light is measured as it travels past our Sun. The measurement finds the star light bent by the amount predicted by Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, of light interacting with mass that warps time and space.

Atomic 1920 - 1860

1918

Influenza pandemic of 1918-1919

An influenza (Spanish flu H1N1) pandemic from 1918-1919 becomes the deadliest in modern history. It infects around 500 million people worldwide (one-third of the Earth's present population) kills 18-20 million in India, 40 million in Japan and between 50-100 million worldwide. In Nebraska 20,000 people were infected and 1500 died The Chautauqua Reader 2018.

The first case is identified at the U.S. Army infirmary in Fort Riley, Kansas on March 4 and by the end of the month there are 1,100 cases. The point of origin is a farm in Haskell County, Kansas. Troops embark to Estaples, France and take the virus with them. The virus spread quickly through Europe and to the rest of the world.

1915

Chemistry: fertilizer, chlorine gas, and zyklon B gas.

Fritz Haber and his team weaponized chlorine gas, which was the first large scale use in, Ypres France, in 1915.

He and Jeroen Bosch created the Haber process, which makes ammonia fertilizer (NH3) from atmospheric nitrogen and hydrogen gas (1909). The first agricultural fertilizer that was not natural (not from animal sources). This creation provided food that saved millions of people from starvation and earned Haber the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918.

Haber left Germany for Switzerland and died in exile in 1933. Nazi scientists found his notes that described a gas called Zyklon B, which Haber‚Äö√Ñ√¥s team had developed as a pesticide. The Nazis used this gas to kill millions in the Holocaust. Source

1913

X-ray crystallography was found by William Bragg and his son William Lawrence Bragg when they found X-rays could be used to reveal the structure of salt and diamonds. Later in late 1950s the process was extended to discover the structures of proteins and later protein complexes.

1912

Alexis Carrel and Charles Guthrie solved the problem of how to sew (suture) two blood vessels together. Blood vessels being tubular were difficult to sew for several reasons, which were solved by their triangular suture method. Source

1910

Vitamins as essential for health were recognized by Casimir Funk, who collected information about human diseases, beriberi, scurvy, and pellagra, and concluded they were caused by a chemical deficiency of amine compounds. Thus, he called them vital amines. Which was later shortened to vitamin when it was found not all vitamins contain amines. See the discovery stories five vitamins:

The summer found the mountains hot, dry and highly combustible, which feed more than 1,000 fires in northeast Washington, northern Idaho, and western Montana, most created by lightening. August 20, 1910, winds greater than 72 mph spread small fires into big ones. 36 hours burnt an area the size of Connecticut (3 million acres). Kills at least 85, changes forest management, and leads to the creation of Smokey the Bear (voice by Sam Elliot). Other American devastating fires.

1908

Ford assembly line

Henry Ford used standardized parts and an efficient assembly line to create an affordable car for the common man. A car every 22 seconds rolled off the line.

Critical discovery to measure the size of the universe with variable stars

Henrietta Swan Leavitt observed Cepheid variable stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud and discovered their brightness was greater the longer it took them to complete one cycle. This period-luminosity function of Cepheid variable stars provided a way to move beyond the use of parallax to measure distances to stars.

1906

The pure food and drug act was the first consumer protection law to protect the American food supply. It was the passed by Congress. American women, doctors, and editors helped Congress to pass the bill.

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair kept public attention on the importance of food inspection laws to insure a safe meat supplly from meat packing plants.

Later congress created the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban foreign and interstate traffic in contaminated and mislabeled food and drug products. To achieve this:

It directed the U.S. Bureau of Chemistry to inspect products and refer offenders to prosecutors.

It required labels to identify active ingredients

Required products to be within purity levels established by the United States Pharmacopeia or the National Formulary.

The Poison Squad is a book that tells the story of how its first chief chemist: Harvey Washington, citizens, and government can work together in meaningful ways for consumer protection.

1905

Nettie Stevens Discovers male chromosome determines sex

Stevens observed a difference between female and male mealworm sex cells. She noticed the sperm had two versions of their 20th chromosome: a smaller version and a largeer one. She then concluded the spermatozoa, which contains the smaller chromosome determines a male mealworn, while spermatozoa that contains 10 equal sized chromosomes determines a female mealworm. She did not call them X and Y chromosomes. That terminology was coined later. Source

1903

First flight

Orville Wright pilots the first heavier than air craft to fly over 120 feet in 12 seconds. Orville and Wilbur Wright design, build, and fly a propeller driven biplane powered by gasoline at Kitty Hawk, NC. The Wright Brothers: How they invented the airplane by Russell Freedman. Excellent source of their lives, building their planes, creation of the aerospace industry, and government involvement.

1902 +

Chemical fertilizer (Nitrogen)

Haber developed a process that used nitrogen (N2) and methane (CH4) gas to make ammonia (NH3) economically. Bosch conducted more than 20 000 experiemnts to find a catalyst and industrialize the process. It has been used to produce so much fertilizer that about 50% of all nitrogen atoms in humans today come from the Haber-Bosch process.

Wilhelm Ostwald used the ammonia (NH3) from Haber's process and developed an additional process to produce nitric acid (HNO3).

Nitric acid ammonia can be mixed to make a more neutral compound ammonium nitrate. It is a good fertilizer because it has a high concentration of nitrogen and can be stored and blended with other fertilizer components. Source

Mt. Pelee on the Caribbean island of Martinique erupts and kills around 30,000 islanders within minutes, leaving two survivors. A citizen group meet a few days before the eruption and decide the smoke and ash does not require an evacuation.

1901

The era of big oil began ( January 10, 1901, ) when a well at Spindletop (Beaumont, Texas) struck oil at a depth of 1 139 ft. The Lucas Gusher went 150 feet in the air and blew 100,000 barrels (4 200 000 gallons) per day for nine days before it was capped. Beaumont became a boomtown as its population grew from 10 000 to 50 000 in three months.

1900

1899

The Chlorine Revolution started in Jersey City, NJ when the water supply from the Passaic River was contaminated. To provide a clean water supply the city contracted Patrick H. Flynn to develop a new source. Twenty-three miles west of the city on the Rockaway River a dam was built to create a reservoir. However, after the contstruction there were several times a year rain would cause the sewage system to overflow and contaminate the water. The city claimed the engineer should have planned better and refused to pay for the construction. Flynn consulted with Dr. John L. Leal who believed bacteria contaminated the water and suggested it could be treaated with chloride of lime (chlorine). The water was treated succesfully, the judge accepted the soution, and ordered the city to pay for the construction. Source The Chlorine Revolution: Water Disinfection and the Fight to Save Lives, by Michael McGuire, 2013. Purified water has saved millions of lives and raised life expectancies by some estimates forty years. See Chlorination and public health

1898

David Fairchild was a botanist, financed by Barbour Lathrop who convinced James Wilson, the Secretary of Agriculture, to accept seeds and plant cuttings David ships to DC to distribute to farmers to diversify American food production. He shipped magoes and dwarf oranges from Jamaica, avocadoes from Santiago, Chile, fava beans and broccoli from Venice, Italy along wiht seedless grapes: purple sultanina, and light-green varieties to become raisins. Kale from Croatia and hops from Polepy, Czech Republic. He also brought Cherry trees from Japan as ornamentals for his garden that became the inspiration for the DC tidal basin cherry blossoms that was a gift from the city of Tokyo.

Source The Food Explorer: The true adventures of the globe-trotting botanist who transformed what America eats. by Daniel Stone

First T-shirt

The U.S. Navy began issues slip-on white cotton undergarments with no buttons a crew-neck and short-sleeves to wear under uniforms. Sailors wore them without their uniforms in submarines and tropical climates. Later T-shirts became popular for workers in industries, agriculture, and young boys because they are easily cleaned, inexpensive, and fit well. T-shirt appears in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary in 1920 and becomes more popular in 1947 when Marlon Brando wears one in A Streetcar Named Desire. After which it becomes a fashionable garment.

1895

Radio waves

Guglielmo Marconi, an electrical engineer explored long-distance radio transmission, and developed Marconi's law and a radio telegraph system. Often credited as the inventor of radio, An entrepreneur, businessman, and founder in Britain in 1897 of The Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company. Later the Marconi Company, built on the work of previous experimenters and physicists, and became a commercial success in radio.

1891

First fiber glass. Charles V. Boys used a cross bow, a hot glass rod as an arrow that he heated to the point of melting, and then fired it. The result was a few microns diameter thread 30 m long. He found it to be very strong and used it to build devices to measure radiation and gravity. Unknown to him it was the first fiber glass. Source

1889

1883

First use of the term scientist. The British philosopher, William Whewell, at the British Association for the Advancement of Science. suggested that since the practitioners of art are called artists, then the practitioners of science ought to be called scientists. Suggesting they should no longer be called philosophers.

1883 In England Percival Everitt invented a machine that dispensed postcards, envelopes, and paper in railway stations and post offices.

1884 In the U. S. William Henry Fruen patented an Automatic Liquid-Drawing Device that dispensed drinks.

1888 the Thomas Adams Gum Company built machines to sell gum at New York City train platforms.

1897 Pulver Manufacturing Company added animation of small figures to encourage people to buy gum from their machines.

1880

Pullman Company town

Pullman's philosophy was, happy workers make more productive workers and the quality of his company owned and maintained houses were good for worker housing. As a result the majority of Pullman employees lived in his houses, which contained two to seven rooms with each having direct access to a private yard, woodshed and paved alley. A variety of housing types were available within each block and from block to block designed to meet different income, status, and family makeup. Source

1880 + -

Light bulb and electrical systems. Joseph Swan installed light bulbs in homes and landmarks in England in the early 1880's. His house was the first in the world to be lit by a lightbulb and the first house in the world to use hydroelectric power. Others who worked on the light bulb: Henry Woodward, Matthew Evans, William Sawyer and Albon Man.

The home of Lord Armstrong at Cragside was also among the first houses to be lit by electricity. He started his company and lit the Savoy Theatre in the City of Westminster, London making it the first public building in the world to be lit entirely by electricity.

Around the same time Edison found how to make longer burning light bulbs using: 1. a more effective incandescent material, 2. creating a higher vacuum in the bulb, and 3. using a high resistance. Higher resistance also allowed power to be distributed from a central source, making an economical sytem. This lead to a completly integrated system of electric lighting with a centrally located massive generator and a parallel-distribution system. All built by the Edison Illuminating Company of New York that could supply electricity to 59 customers in a square-mile area of lower Manhattan. Thus Edison's genius was not only the light bulb, but the system to make it work in a community.

1875

Treaty of the meter in Paris, May 20, 1875, is attended by 17 countries who create the international bureau of weights and measures, which adopts the metric system internationally. See also metric system history and U.S.

Andrew Carnegie returned from England in 1872 having learned about the Bessemer process for making steel. He increased the scale of the furnace and built his first steel mill, Edgar Thomson Steel Works, in 1875 in Braddock, Pennsylvania, (near Pittsburgh).

For the first time steel could be mass produced inexpensively. This first mill was so successful Carnegie was able to use the profits to buy other Pittsburgh steel mills and create the Carnegie Steel Company in 1892.

1874

Barbed wire. Joseph Glidden was granted a patent for barbed wire on November 24, 1874. He went into partnership with a merchant, Isaac Ellwood, and they formed The Barb Fence Company. Source of invention.

DDT was synthesized in 1874. However, it was not until 1939 that it was discovered it could be used as an insecticde.

1870

National Weather Service established

1869

Transcontinental railroad was opened for through traffic on May 10, 1869 with a ceremonial driving of the last spike. The spike, referred to as the golden spike, was driven with a silver hammer, at Promontory Summit, Utah.

Riverside, Illinois was the first planned suburb, and the Chicago suburbs of the mid-19th century weren‚Äö√Ñ√¥t exactly suburbs yet but towns near the downtown.

Mendeleev‚Äö√Ñ√¥s , Demitri Mendeleev, presented to the Russian Chemical Society in March, 1869 his Periodic Law. He stated, ‚Äö√Ñ√∫... elements arranged according to the value of their atomic weights [today atomic mass or number is more accurate] present a clear periodicity of properties.‚Äö√Ñ√π

His version had 70 elements with gaps where he believed unknown elements belonged. Using the properties of periodicity he successfully predicted properties for three or the gap elements. Source

1868

First Planned suburb

Riverside, Illinois was the first planned commuter suburb. It was a suburb of Chicago Illinois accesible by train. Although at the time it wasn't known as a suburb, but as a town near the downtown. While towns were designed in a familiar checker board fashion, Riverside was the first where roads were curvalinear and didn't meet wiht 90 degree angles. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. Source

First Canned meat

Deviled ham meat spread was first canned in 1868 by the Underwood Deviled Ham company. The company was found in 1822 by William Underwood who then packed food in glass containers. In 1836 he changed to steel cans coated with tin.

Underwood¬¨√Ü Devil logo is thought to be the oldest food trademark. Source

1862

1861 +

Maxwell's electric and magnetic equations:
James Clark Maxwell's published equations to describe how electric and magnetic fields are generated, interact, and are changed by each other and their charges and currents.

Industrial 1860 - 1500

1859

Oil well
The first successful oil wells was drilled in northwestern Pennsylvania. Known as the Drake Well, after "Colonel" Edwin Drake. It began an international search for oil and energy use for the next hundred... years... Source

1858

First Trans Atlantic Cable completed

Connected N. America to Ireland. The first message is sent by Queen Victoria to US president James Buchanan congratulating him on the successful completion of this great international work. The message travels through 2 500 miles of cable and takes 16 hours.

Can opener inventedEzra J. Warner invented and received a patent for the first can openerin 1858. It used by the US military in the civil war.

In 1866 William Lyman improved it with a wheel that rotated along the top rim of the can and received a patent for it in 1870. Source

1855 + -

Elevator, lifting devices with ropes and pulleys were described and used by Archimedes, in the Roman Colosseums, Louis XV, and others. However, they were slow and unreliable with the use of ropes, which could wear out and fail. In 1852, Elisha Graves Otis invented a safety break in 1852 that changed that. If there was a cable break, a spring would push pawls on the car into position racks on the sides of the shaft and hold the car in place. Such a devise was installed at a five-story department store in New York City in 1857.

Commercial passenger elevators allowed the building of the world‚Äö√Ñ√¥s first skyscrapers opening cities to an explosion of population and real estate value as building rose literally hundreds of floors. The Otis Elevator Company, is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation, the world's largest manufacturer of vertical transport systems. Source

1854

Dr. John Snowinvestigated the death of over 500 people, in the Golden Square neighborhood of London. He collected data on where the dead people had lived, mapped it, and his analysis lead him to discover a geographic relationship to indicate the source of the cholera epidemic as a local well. He recommended the removal of the pump handle, which the St. James Parish ordered done.

1851

Dr John Gorrie, found that when yellow fever patients were cooled with ice, they had a better chance of recovering. Being in the south ice was only available when it was imported from New England. To make ice available all year he explored how make ice with refrigeration and cool rooms with air conditioning. His invention was granted a patent for a machine that made ice by compressing and cooling air. Source

1850

1840+

Guano as fertilizerEurope and other countries with depleated soils sought ways to keep their soils fertile. One was to add manure to the soil. A recent discovery of on Peru's Chincha Islands was mountains of bird excrement several hundred feet deep in places. The guano deposits were high quality and with a high demand, the idea that a fortune could be made sent investors to the region to mine and sell guano as fertilizer. Soon countries were exploring the world for other areas rich in Guano and claiming mining rights. Wars and territorial disputes developed.

1838

Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel used parallax to calculate the distance to the star, 61 Cygni, and concluded it was 10.3 light years.

1827

Browning motion

Robert Brown, looks at plant pollen (Clarkia pulchella) placed in water and sees particles jiggling randomly in the water.

1820

England deliberately exterminated beavers in the Oregon Bridge Creek to keep trappers (particularly U.S.) from going into Oregon and claiming the Territory for the United States.

1816

Renѐ Laennec was a muscian and physician who invented the stethoscope. He recorded his first observations of the heart as musical notation and pioneered listing to chest sounds to diagnose various medical conditions.

1806

Preservation of food was perfected by Nicolas Appert who preserved fruits, vegetables, meat, soup, and milk by boiling and storing them in airtight glass containers. It was developed so Napoleon could feed his troops in the field. Source

1795

France creates the to standardize measurement across France on April, 7, 1795. It is a measurement system based on the decimal system, uses the meter for length, liter for volume, and the kilogram for mass. It was later dropped by Napoleon in 1812 and readopted in 1840. See 1875 for international conference. Source See also metric system history and U.S.

1793

Whitney had a genius ability to reconize an develop innovations. In South Carolina he observed how hard it was to remove seeds from cotton so he invented the cotton gin, a machine that could clean ten times as much cotton as a slave by hand. Source

1787

James Madison recognizes that a census could be a scientific method to decide how to distribute political power. If a census were conducted every ten years, the data could be used to determine how many representatives each state would have. Therefore, a way to guarantee the House of Representatives would equably represent future population changes.

The first census of the United States that recorded the population of the United States as of Census Day, August 2, 1790.

A scientific accurate census can provide information to make wise social, economic, health, medical research, technological, and other important decisions.

If conducted well it becomes a valuable source to create representative samples for quality research.

1780

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) Philosopher

Kant claimed that everything we know is a construction by our perceptions, which are shaped by our minds abilities and lack of abilities, of what we percieve as our observations of the world. It is our empirical intuition and subjective reasoning about these perceptions we synthesize and recognize as our consciousness and existence and understanding in the world with our observation and reasoning. That pure reasoning (rationalism) without observable data would lead to illusion about the world. Understanding is a function of imagination that bridges thought and perception of observable data to allow us to believe our consciousness exists and there are objects and events in our world which we can discover and understand with our reasoning.

1768

First English language Encyclopaedia Britannica published in Edinburgh, Scotland. Source

1765

Steam engine

James Watt improved a Thomas Newcomen version of the steam engine making it available for work and the industrial age. He added a separate condenser so the cylinder could be kept heated with each stroke, a shaft that rotated instead of movint up and down, and other improvements to make it practical for multiple uses.

1762

Jean-Jacques Rousseau - (1712 -1778)

Wrote and published Emile or a Treatise on Education.

The book is considered the first educational philosophy book as well as the first child psychology book.

Rousseau claims children have a natural goodness and can become critical life long learners and educated citizens if they can survive a corrupted society.

Rousseau is sometimes referred to as the father of modern child psychology.

1760

Washington Crop rotation

George Washington experimented with crop rotation on a three year cycle and five year cycle. He drew elaborate charts that showed how he divided his fields and the amounts of crops was equalized with flax, hay, clover, buckwheat, turnips, and potatoes being rotated through different fields. Later he expanded to a seven year cycle as shown in the table. See also Townshend crop rotation.

1758

Classification system

Carl Linnaeus created a systematic framework for the classification of animals and plants based on visual observation of related properties among organisms. Any classification system opens debate to how general or specific the differences between the relationships used for classification should be. Deciding if properties should be widened or narrowed to include more or less species of organisms in a group.

1700

Townshend Crop rotation

Charles Townshend, investigated a crop rotation based on Dutch and Flemish farming practices. His experiments found crops grew better with fewer weeds, fewer pests, and returned nutrients to the soil when he rotated crops through four years: wheat in the first year, clover (or ryegrass) in the second, oats or barley in the third, and turnips or rutabagas in the fourth. See also Washington crop rotation.

1686

1670

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek used a simple magnifying glass to observe the quality of fabric. He later ground lenses and refined his method for better magnification. He left 247 microscopes and 172 lenses, nine microscopes are known to have survived with a magnification of up to 200 times. The best microscopes of the time. He was the first to observe and noted: protozoa, bacteria, red blood cells, spermatozoa, and closer observations of other organisms. The microscope provided the technology necessary for microbiology and cell biology. Thanks ... Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

1669

Boyle's Gas law and a vacuum

Robert Boyle and Charles Hooke used a vacuum pump, invented by Otto von Guericke (1649), to investigate the properties of air and properties of a vacuum: sound does not travel through a vacuum, but magnetism does, liquids vaporized quicker in a vacuum, animals died in a vacuum (see famous public bird demonstrations), and animals could be frozen. The importance of the relationship of temperature and pressure wasn't realized until much later with refrigeration and heat pumps.

Their first discovery of air properties is Boyle‚Äö√Ñ√¥s Law. They used a glass tube and filed it with different amounts of mercury to vary the pressure on a fixed weight of air. They discovered that pressure times volume equals a constant (p*v=c) if temperature was constant. In other words, when you increase the pressure on a gas, the gas‚Äö√Ñ√¥s volume shrinks proportionally. It would be a few years before Charles discovered the next gas law in 1787.

1656

The pendulum clock is invented by Christiaan Huygens. It is the most precise time piece until mid 1900’s.

1643

First vacuum & first barometer

Evangelista Torricelli used a suggestion by Galileo and filled a 4 foot glass tube with mercury and inverted it into a dish of mercury. He observed some mercury flowed out of the tube and left a space in the tube above the mercury. Being sealed he concluded the empty space was a vacuum. From his day to day observations and observations from moving it up a moutain side, he concluded the variation of the height of the mercury was caused by changes in the amount of air above dish of mercury pushing down on it, atmospheric pressure. His experiments on air and vacuums explained why water pumps at that time were unable to raise water more than about 33 feet. His ideas would related to Boyles Gas law and engines.

1638

First printing press in the American Colonies is assembled at Harvard College.

1620

Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) published his Novum Organum, where he describes a system of logic he believes is superior to Aristotle's syllogism (360 BCE ) or deductive reasoning. It becomes known as the Baconian method, inductive reasoning and the scientific method. Bacon may have been inspired by Ibn al-Haytham‚Äö√Ñ√¥s Optics (Kit∆í√Öb al-man∆í√Ö¬∑‚à´√¨ir).

He believed it was the best way to draw conclusions about the natural world. An inductive approach of skeptical observation and experimentation with facts and explanation leading to conclusion. Because of this he has been called the father of empiricism and the father of the scientific method.

1610

Turned his telescope upward and observed the mountains of the moon, additional stars, planets orbiting the Sun, and four moons orbiting Jupiter; then wrote about it in Starry Messenger.

His stance that facts should govern life not belief and support of the Copernican theory (Earth orbits the Sun) got him put under house arrest, forbade him to write any more, and wasn't allowed visits by mathematicians. 1633. Source

Dropped different sized canon balls of the Tower of Pisa and demonstrated that heavy and light objects fall at the same rate.

Pre industrial revolution

1582

The Gregorian calendar / Western calendar / Christian calendar, is named for Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it in October 1582.

1543

Nicolas Copernicus uses his calculations to support the idea the Sun is the center of the solar system with planets orbiting around it.

1507

In the late 1400's on the Murano island, (Venice) glassmakers develop cristallo, a transparent colorless plate glass, that is polished, and backed with lead and antimony to make a rough surface with a dim reflection (mirror).

In 1507 Andrea & Domenico d'Angelo del Gallo brother glassmakers on Murano improve the method by applying a mercury-tin amalgamon to the backside of the high quality transparent glass. This revolutionary technique is so valuable the Republic of Venice forbids any glassmaker from leaving the island. Eventually the technique makes its way to France and beyond.

The production of high quality mirrors leads to study and experiement with light in new ways as well as to artist who could study their own images and create, for the first time, self-portraits.

1500

Horses arrive in America

1492

1455

Printing with movable type

Johannes Gutenberg, invents the printing press with movable type. It uses small metal prisms (lead) that are precisely cast in large quantities so they can be set into a grid, used, reset, and used again. He also uses a new press, similar to those used in wine making, new papermaking and bookbinding techniques, and an oil-based printing ink. All improvements to Chinese, Korean printing, and current European printing of stamping letters on a surfaces or woodblock. Source

1349

Black Death wipes out half of the Europe population. The Black Death or bubonic plague, is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis that is transferred from wild rodents to humans.

1291

Glassmaking becomes industrialized when the Venetian Republic, thought the 1 000 degree furnaces might be a fire hazard for the cities mostly wooden buildings, To prevent the city buring down, the glassmakers were ordered to move their foundries to the small nearby island Murano. The move brings many glassmakers together and Murano becomes a hot spot for glassmakers to develop and maintain their craft and art of quality glass making through today. See 1507 for later developments. Source

1040

Magnetic compass

Chinese scholars discover a needle could be heated till red, held in a north south orientation, and cooled. Then floated in liquid or suspended on a silk thread and it would point north and south. Therefore, it is valuable for navigation and used by the Song Dynasty, China, for military navigation areound 1040 and for maritime navigation around 1111.

1030

Described scientific discovery as observation reasoned with induction in a cautious manner to make conclusions without being swayed by opinion. Influenced Roger Bacon

Combined experiments with mathematical reasoning.

Includes an accurate model of the eye and vision, laws of reflection, refraction with the relationship between angles of incidence and refraction, and describes motion in mediums with different densities.

1000 CE

Mississippi culture begins in North America

Cities are built with mounds in the center and surrounded by defensive barriers.

Cities like Holly Bluff (Lake George), Mississippi and Toltec in Arkansas, and Cahokia (east side of Saint Louis with a population of 10 000 plus with another 20 000 plus in its suburbs), Mississippi, Spiro, Okalahoma, Aztalan, Wisconsin. Also includes Muskogee, Caddo, Crow, Pawnee, Ho-Chunk.

Large corn fields to feed the large populations along with pigweed, and sunflowers. They forage for other plants, fruit, and nuts and fish and hunt. Their networks of trade provide copper, shells, pearls, stone, mica, and wood. They make jewelry, pipes, textile, pottery, stone and shell art. Large amounts of art with statues of humans and animals. Two famous pieces are the Piasa a mythical animal painting and the Rattlesnake Disk carved stone. Lasted till European contact by DeSoto.1539

City state and Agriculture: 1 000 C. E. - 10 000 BCE

536

"For the sun gave forth its light without brightbness, like the moon, during the whole year" Procopius

Temperatures fall and lower temperatures cause snow in the summer, crop failure, people starve, Irish record wheat failure from 536-539. Later in 541 a plague in Pelusiam, Egypt (known as the Plague of Justinian) kills 33-50% of the eastern Roman empire population, contributing to its collapse.

Tree ring research in 1990 supported that summers around 540 were unusually cold. Later in 2018 ice from Swiss glaciers suggest a cataclysmic volcano erupted in Iceland in 536 and two more massive eruptions in 540 and 547. It is believed these eruptions caused economic problems that reduced trade and manufacturing until around 640 where ice samples indicate an increase of airborne lead from silver smelting. Source

320

Mouth harp is lost in the Altai Mountains in Russia. It measures about 4.3 inches long and 3.3 inches wide and will still make music in 2018. Source

300 - 400

Nomadic tribes of Northern Asia invaded China, eastern Asia, and Europe. With their superior horse skills and the stirrup; they destroy villages, the current political structures, and change peoples lives.

79

Mount Vesuvius, near the Bay of Naples in Italy, erupts in 79 and buries Pompeii in ash preserving artifacts to be found later to see how Romans lived during this time. Source

The ancient Roman town of Baia, a fashionable resort for Romans, on the shore of the Gulf of Naples, sank into the sea also as a result of Vesuvius volcanic action.

37 BCE

Cement - Romans made cement and used it to make concret for water pipes, docks in harbors ... Source

50 BCE

First vending machine in recorded history is in Alexandria, Egypt. It is invented by a Greek mathematician and engineer Hero of Alexandriato dispensed holy water at Egyptian temples. See 1880's

Hero wrote on a variety of topics that include mathematics, engineering, physics, and pneumatics. The writings include the first record of a wind powered machine (a windwheel), steam powered machines, machines that used sound and light, syringe for liquid and air, a fountain, and how to calculate square root.

240 BCE

Eratosthenes Calculates size of the Earth

Eratosthenes, heard of a well in Syene that on summer solstice (June 21) the Sun light up the well right down to the water and cast no shadow on the side (meaning the sun was directly overhead [zenith]). On the same day the Sun, in Alexandria, was 7 degrees off the zenith (point directly overhead). Using geometry he calculate the Earth's diameter as 12,800 km or about 8ooo miles around the poles and equator. Source explanation of measurement

300 BCE

Hopewell culture ranges from Kansas to New York and Florida to Canada after Adena. They trade, art, jewelry, ceramic, and stone figures. Construction uses horizon based astronomy and circle square combinations. Between 400 CE - 500 CE stopped mound building and their trade network collapses.

Around 450 CE the bow and arrow arrives from Canada and corn from the southwest, but probably not a common crop until 700 or 800 CE. They build small farmsteads and villages with a central plaza. Evidence of violent deaths increases and palisades are build around villages. Build effigy mounds in the shapes of animals (birds, panthers, lizards, turtles) for burials till 1 000 CE when Mississippi culture begins

Euclid writes his Geometry book, Elements

Euclid lives in Athens, Greece and Alexandria, Egypt. He is known as the Greek mathematician who found geometry. It is said the King Ptolemy I of Egypt told him he wanted to learn geometry. Euclid replied, he would have to study long hours and memorize a large book of information. The King demanded a shortcut, to which Euclid replied, "There is no royal road to geometry."

310 BCE

Sun centered solar system

Aristarchus of Samos, built on Herakleides Sun centered theory and described accurate orbits of Earth and the Sun's other planets encircling it and the orbit of the Moon around the Earth. This symbolically marks the end of Greek scientific philosophy as those who came after stuck to myths that put the Earth at the center.

331 BCE

Alexander the Great founds Alexandria, Egypt as a pharaonic town. It is the capital of Egypt until Muslims conquer Egypt in 641 AD, and move the capital to Fustat, later Cairo.

350 BCE

Babylonians use a trapazoid to predict Jupiter's motion across the sky.

360 BCE

Aristotle - 380 - 322 BCE

Explanation with rhetoric and logic. While Socrates and Plato use reasoning Aristotle develops a system of rules and strategies, syllogism, it is the begining of logical deductive reasoning (as opposed to inductive reasoning). Reasoning in which a conclusion is drawn (validly or not) from propositions (premises) that share an idea not present in the conclusion, for example. Categorical syllogism, uses two premises and a conclusion:

All humans are vertebrates; no insect is a vertebrate, therefore, no humans are insects.

All dogs are mammals, all mammals are animals, therefore, all dogs are animals.

Aristotle believes.

There is a natural order to the world that could be determined with logic without observation.

Objects would naturally come to rest (without a force acting on them).

Solid objects would fall to Earth, because that is their natural place to be.

Believes forces were requird to keep things moving. Had no concept of inertia. See Galileo and Newton.

Aristotle claims.

Heredity needs a message and material to explain how traits are passed from parent to children to grandchildren and beyond.

He recognizes Pythagoras ideas need to be extended to include information being passed from the mother and ancesters from both sides of the parents to the baby.

He claims there is mutual contributions of information to a baby that passes from the male in the semen and from the female in the blood.

380 BCE

Petra is an acient city carved in rocks by the Nabataeans in the desert of southern Jordan. See - Nova video (53:05)
Nabataeans create an irrigation system for their city's water needs. To do so they solve several problems for water to be moved over a long distance.

Discover an optimal shape and size of pipes so sediment wouldn't clog the flow.

Discover how smoothly pipes pipes need to be set so the flow rate deliveres appropriate amounts of water. For example, rapid flow creates ripples and reduces water volume compared to a smooth flow.

They cnclude: shape, size, smoothness, and slope of pipes affect flow (2.5 degree slope works for an efficient water flow).

Excavations show how the Nabataeans create their water supply system for their desert city. It includes: an artificial oasis, flood controls, multiple dams, storage in cisterns, and water transported in conduits from sources miles away. Source for detailed descriptions of Petra's Water supply and distribution.

400 BCE

The idea of atoms

Democritus - 470 - 370 BCE

Democritus considers all matter is made of atoms, which were small, invisible particles surrounded by space, could not be subdivided, and last forever. There is an infinite number of them that make up the physical world. They are different in shape, arrangement, position, and magnitude. He also believes space is a void or vacuum that is infinite. Source

Horseshoe

A horseshoe is essential to protect the foot of horses if they are to be used productively for agriculture and transportation. They protect the foot from repeated wear and cracking in dirt, mud, and on rock.

Early protection is created with leather or other materials wrapped around the foot and fastened with thongs. Sometimes metal or other materials were inserted inside the boot shaped material. Literature includes early reports of shoes of bronze, silver, and gold being on horses of important leaders.

The development of iron provides a much better material and along with the idea of fastening it to the foot with nails. Since iron is valuable and could be melted and reused, it makes discovery of it in archaeological digs unlikely.

Sculptures of horses with shoes are rare, but a few are known.

Four bronze horseshoes with nail holes were found in an Italian tomb dated around 400 B.C.E. Source

What are the pros and cons between horses, mules, and oxens as what is best for ... Consider strength, speed, health, and food requirements ...

Thonis-Heracleion, an ancient island city on the mouth of the Nile River.

After Carnac it is the legitimate capital of Egypt where Pharaohs receive the divine rights to rule. It is a major trading port until Alexander the Great conqueres Egypt and builds Alexandria in 331 BCE and made it the capital.

Later the Nile changes course, the land liquifies, and the city sinks into the Mediterranean Sea. It is lost to history until archeologist find its ruins in 2000. The find includes many everyday artifacts, temples, statues of gods and pharaohs, a Stele with a record of tax rates for imports and exports, and over 64 ship wrecks. Source

415 BCE

Hippocrates is a Greek physician regarded as the father of medicine. Around 60 medical writings have survived with his name, many probably not written by him.

First written information about the flu 412 BCE

Best known for the Hippocratic Oath, which bears his name, but he may not have written, and the high ethical standards it sets.

Utopian ideal is to produce philosopher kings or guardians rule to the State.

Built on Greek rhetoric: the art and process of effective public speaking. First taught by the sophists (480 BCE).

Dialecticreasoning or dialectics (Socratic method, Hindu, Buddhist, Medieval, Hegelian dialectics, Marxist, Talmudic, and Neo-orthodoxy), and modern debate. All involve conversations between two or more people arguing different points of view for the purpose of establishing truth with reasoned argument.

Socrates valued truth as the highest value. Truth discovered through conversation with reason and logic (dialectic reasoning). Logic, not emotion, to discover truth for persuasion and make choices to guide one's life. To Socrates, truth, not art, was the greater good to guide one's life. Therefore, Socrates opposed the sophists and their teaching of rhetoric as art and as emotional oratory requiring neither logic nor proof.

Dialectic method, rhetoric, and debate can have fundamental differences. In theory debate may be considered as unemotional and committed to rational argument. However, in practice debaters can present emotionally charged ideas to suppress rational thought, hoping to persuade others to their point of view. See rhetoric (480 BCE) sophists

Plato wrote about how all civilizations will fail and includes the destruction of a city he called Atlantis in his Dialogue. So is his tale based on history or is it fiction?

480 BCE

Sophists - 480 - 390 BCE

The first teachers of rhetoric (the art (arte) and process of effective public speaking) in the Greek world they are known as Sophists (wise men). They teach by example, skills of civic life and explore a wide range of human experience about Greek culture. Not being Athenians, they often clash culturally and philosophically with Athenians.

Sophists taught art and thought have the highest value in life. Therefore, it should be used to make choices and to seek it out in all things. To them the artistic quality of a speech or oration is its power to motivate, influence, and please people. Therefore, oration is taught as an art form, used to please, motivate, and influence other people through quality speaking. Maybe the historical basis for Declamations, which are student’s interpretations of famous speeches regiven to demonstrate the student's ability to understand and apply the purpose and power of the speech and skill in public speaking. Samples

Rhetoric is a method or art of speaking or discourse/ conversation to persuade, inform, or motivate an audience. Concepts of rational appeal (logos), emotional appeal, (pathos), and ethical appeal (ethos) are all intentionally used to persuade and convince people of a particular idea or argument. Read more: rhetoric

500 BCE

Parmenides, (515-430BCE) Greek philosopher, is known to use logic with an extended arguments for his views rather than just a view of reality. However, he never systematically studied or formed logical principals, proofs, for valid arguments.

530 BCE

Explained the similarities between parents and children were caused when semen travels throughout a male body, where it absorbs mystical vapor from all parts of the body to create a blueprint to build a baby so when the semen is transported to the mother to provide a message with instructions for the female to provide the matter to build and nourish the fetus. Which he wrongly thought was the only purpose of a female in reproduction. This became known as spermism. See Aristotle

597 BCE

Early science experiment with control group

Jerusalem is captured by King Nebuchadnezzar II and citizens of Judea are sent to Babylon as hostages. The young to be raised and educated in the King's court. Daniel, among them, a devout Jew, did not want to eat non kosher meat and drink wine. Thus, he asks his overseer, Melzar, for a vegetarian diet and water. Melzar, afraid for his life if David doesn't thrive and learn, did not want to grant this request. David suggests an experiment: for ten days he and nine others are given a vegetarian diet with water (experimental group) and another group of ten are given the King’s meat and wine (control group). At the end of ten days, if they weren’t healthy he would eat the King’s meat. At the end of ten days David’s group was fairer and fatter in flesh (Daniel 1:15), than the meat group. Thereafter, Melzar allows their diet.

750 BCE

The Great Dam of Marin on on the Wadi Adhanah watershed, near the ancient city of Ma'rib the capital of Saba (a prosperous trading nation, with control of the frankincense and spice routes in Arabia and Abyssinia) was built in eighth century BCE may be the oldest dam. Source

About 1620 BCE a Volcano on Thera, an island in the Mediterranean produced and exported saffron trading with Europe, Africa, Asia. The Thera volcano destroyed all civilization on the island with Pyroclastic flows. It caused earthquakes and tsunamies that severely impacted Minoan settlements in the Mediterranean on .

and created tsunamis that destroyed the Konos on the Island of Crete. The Konos are the origins of the Minoans who influenced the Mycenaean civilization from the 15th to the 13th century BCE throughout the Peloponnese in Greece and the Aegean.

2 000 BCE

Iron production has been dated to 1500 BC at a variety of sites in Niger where production sites and iron objects were found and dated around 2000 BCE +- 500 years. Source

Atlantis

Greek philosopher Plato wrote about Atlantis in 360BCE in his dialogues where he describes it as an island city by the straits of the Pillars of Hercules, today Straits of Gibraltar. Over the years people have searched for this lost city. Recent research suggests it might have been located near Spain.

4 6oo BCE

3 200 BCE

Newgrange stone chamber is built by Irish farmers in Boyne Valley, Ireland

Astronomical site built before Stonehenge and Giza Pyramids. A mound 85 meters in diameter and 13.5 meters high over a 1 acre area. A 19 meter stone tunnel, aligns with the rising sun on the Winter Solstice and leads into a chamber with 3 alcoves. It is surrounded by 97 large stones (kerbstones) some engraved with megalithic art.

3 300 BCE

Bronze (smelted from tine and copper) is made in Sumer
History notes the Bronze age as a historic mile stone. However, different societies learned how to make Bronze at different times. Greeks about 3000 B.C. British and Chinese around 1900 BCE - 1700 BCE, Egypt 1475

3 500 BCE

Domestication of the Cacao tree

Chocolate is made by the Mayo-Chinchipe in Ecuador by grinding cacao beans into a paste and then combine it with combinations of water, corn, fruit, chili peppers, and honey to make a porridge or beverage. About 1850 Europeans added sugar and cocoa butter and later in 1870 the Swiss added milk powder to make milk chocolate.

3 700 BCE

Horse domestication begins on the Kazakh steppe with the Botai hunter gatherers who put mare's milk in pots and used riding bits with horses. Riding horses vastly changed human civilization and as humans changed the horse genome changed. Source

4 000 BCE

Irrigation

Egypt and Mesopotamia (present day Iraq and Iran) use flood water from the Nile or Tigris/Euphrates river to water crops.

The Egyptians use a verticle column (Nilometer) and a series of stairs to measure the depth of water. Several still exist and can be seen today. SourceImage source: Baldiri (Own work) [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

3 000 BCE The first reservoir may have been made by King Menes along with dams and canals to diverted water from the Nile into Lake Moeris. Source

4 200 BCE

Cities continually inhabited

While gathering places or temporary cities for trade, social gatherings, and religious ceremonies are known some cities begin to be continuously inhabited. Archeologist continue to discover more and earlier settlements.

It is interesting that when a person enters a city, they recognize it as a city, even if it is an ancient city or a city of today. Yet it is more difficult to define what one is in specific terms. Some characteristics of cities: allow for diversification of ideas, specialization of labor, social interactions, development of a common culture, language, and experience, more interdependence, creativity, novelty, technology, and a general scaling up until a limit of resources is reached.

Sosa 4200 BCE

Faiyum 4000 BCE

Erbil 4000 BCE

Kirkuk 1100 BCE

Balkh 1150 BCE

Bejing 1045 BCE

4 400 BCE

Cats (Feline) are domestic, as indicated by DNA, began in southwestern Asia through southeast Europe 6 400 years ago.

5 000 years BCE

Breeding of dogs in Siberia. Skulls were measure and their ratios of snout height to skill length and cranium height to skull length distinguished them as dogs. Dogs werebred to be large enough to pull a sled, but not too large to overheat. Source

Potatoes are domestic in Peru. It was taken to Europe by the Spanish (1500's) and did not become an important food until 1800's during famines.

Catalhoyuk, Turkey citizens lived in houses that were built and supplied in a manner that suggest equality with no apparent leadership. Artifacts also suggest domestication and use of clay appears to have affected the environment in harmful ways: as evidence of deforestation, extensive burning, erosion and of large-scale grazing were also found. Source

Copper is used in Asia

7 000 BCE

Kennewick man lives in present day Washington state. His DNA relates to today's Native American tribes of the Coville Reservation as suggested by his skeleton found in Washington. A study of his DNA in 2015 finds it is Haplogroup Q-M3, and his mitochondrial DNA Haplogroup is X2a.

Olmec Domesticate maize (corn) in Mexico. Research suggests different varieties of maize are partially domesticated before being traded or spread from Mexico. These partially domesticated seeds, each with sufficient alleles to independently become modern, did so in different locations in the Americas after their dispersal. SourceDid Maize Dispersal Precede DomesticationScience December 14, 2018

Jericho becomes a city.

8 000 BCE or 10 000 BP

Sheep are domestic in the Mesopotamian area for: food, clothing and shelter. The use of wool developes over time as the quality of wool needs to be bred for a more dense fleece, achieved with finer fibers and less kemp. Source Sheep industry fact sheets

The Archaic period in North America

Mammoths, mastodons and Bison antiquus are extinct. Native cultures are still hunters, but hunt smaller prey, deer, rabbits, turkeys, geese, and fish. If available, elk and bison. To supplement they ate more seeds, nuts, fruits, and fibrous plants. Therefore, inventing grinding stones and the mortar and pestle, leeching acorns. They travel in small groups 20-30 and hunt with atlatls and spears. The climate warms, water increaes, grasslands and forrests grow more dense and about 3 000 BP groups tend to stay in one place and diversify. Where possible they live in rock shelters. Other places, they build simple houses in shallow pits and cover them with log frames, domes, or tents.

History, includes many tales of hunter gatherer societies being driven out, infected, conquered, and exterminated by farming societies where farming is possible. Except the Huns 300-400 and Ghengis Khan 1225.

Hunter gatherers of the Fertile Crescent domesticated wheats, barley, peas, sheep, goats, cows and pigs to become the first farmers and herders, beginning around 8500 BCE. This led to major changes: shorter birth intervals (from four years to one year) political changes (social classes, kings, soldiers, empires, professional armies), and technology (metal tools, writing, ...). These were tools of conquest and allowed them to spread into Europe, North Africa, western India, and central Asia. However, having no other advantages power shifted to Greece then Italy and then to northwest Europe. While human societies in the Fertile Crescent inadvertently committed slow ecological suicide as low rainfall caused deforestation, soil erosion and salinization.

Some advantages and disadvantages of agriculture:

One calorie seed can grow 50 calories.

One acre of farmed land can grow 1 000 times what hunting and gathering can provide per acre.

A 60 lb bushel of wheat can make 70 loaves of bread.

Early agricultural communities are more malnourished, have more famines, people are shorter, life expectancies decreases by five years, and there are more conflicts and war than hunting gathering tribes.

11 000 BP

First Stone Temple?

A temple at Gobekli Tepe, Turkey is where hunter gatherers congregate to share in spiritual celebrations. The artifacts at the site suggest religion predates agriculture and possible permanent settlements built while while humans were still hunters and gatherers. Artifacts carved on the surfaces represent images of foxes, lions, scorpions, vultures, and T shaped pilars that some believe represent humans. Findings suggest early people had beliefs and those beliefs evolved and centered on human's place in nature.

Humans as spirits in a spiritual world among animals, weather, and other Earthly spirits.

Humans with nature.

Humans as master of nature.

Humans as servants of nature.

Three skulls were found with red ochre, grooves, circular holes that seem to be cut at time of death or near death as there was no indication of healing. Could have been suspended by cords for ritual situations. Source

11 500 BP ...

Skull of Luzia Woman dates to around 11, 500 years ago is found in a cave at Lapa Vermelha, Pedro Leopoldo, Great Belo Horizonte, Brazil in 1975.

An infant is at the Upward Sun River in the Tana River Basin in Alaska. The infant's genetics suggest her ancestors settled Beringia and her descendants headed south into North America. The site was found in 2008. The infant's bones, date to around 11 500 year ago. Science January 5, 2018.

Folsom culture follows Clovis in North america. They mainly hunting bison using their new invention, bison jumps. Their culture disappears 10 000 BP.

13 000 BP and maybe earlier ...

Humans in Americas

Naia, a teenage girl explores an underwater cave in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Where her skeleton is found and dates to 13,000 years ago. Her DNA indicates she descended from early Native Americans, who likely crossed the Bering Strait. Her ancestry was Asian, from Beringia, haplogroup D. Source
Learn more about Naia on NovaFirst Face of America February 7, 2018.

A boy explores in Montana where his skeleton is found in Montana at the Anzick site in 1968. In 2014 his haplogroup is found to be D1, commonly found in South America.

Arlington Springs Man lives on Channel Islands off the west coast near Santa Barbara, California. Two of his leg bones were found in 1959 and later dated to 13,000 BP.

Clovis stone tools are created. Dates for their production are from 13 500 to 12 700 BP, just 800 years. Most found in the eastern and central United States, with oldest sites in Texas and northern Mexico. Did the Clovis people hunt mammoth or mostly forage for plants, hunt small mammals, and catch fish. Along with Clovis points, scrapers, blades, drills and needles are in their tool kits. Source

Some humans begin to plant and cultivate plants (farming) rather than a sole reliance on hunting and gathering. The idea farming is superior to hunting and gathering at this time is probable inaccurate, since farming requires more work, lower adult status, and results in worse nutritional conditions, poorer sanitation, and more disease. What ever the circumstances, farming causes changes in plants, animals, and human behaviour as they interacted with each other, build cities, and live in them. SourceEvolution, consequences and future of plant and animal domestication, by Jared Diamond.

Domestication of wheat, barley, and other seeds with non shattering seed pod or head

Domestication of goats, sheep, cattle, chicken, and pigs

Is the reason some species were not domesticated, that it was too difficulty to domesticate them?, or Were the indigenous people that lived where the species is native not inclined to domesticate them?

13 800 BP and maybe earlier ...

A village is established off the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada on the ancestral grounds of the Heiltsuk Nation. The archaeological evidence supports Heiltsuk oral tradition that claims the tribe lived along the coast in a land that didn't freeze during the ice age. Source

15 000 BP

17 000 BP

Cave Art at Tuc d'Audoubert, France.

Two bison sculptures are created. Each about 24 x 18 x 4 inches with smooth surfaces that have finger marks from being smoothed when wet, hair carved with a tool, and jaw lines cut with fingernails. Both bison are ready to mate. (15 000 BCE)

The cave also includes numerous paintings, engravings, abstract symbols, one anthropomorphic mask and one image of a female vulva. Source

23 000 BP

At the Ohalo II agricultural site, on the shore of Galilee, people clear land, sow wheat and barley and harvest them. Ehud Weiss and his team collected 150 000 specimens of plant remains from the site and dated them to 25000 BCE. The find suggests human migration to North America was along the coast instead of overland.

28 000 BP

Solutrean stone tools are made in North East America from 19,000 BCE and 26,000 BCE

These stone tools are similar to Solutrean tools made in Spain, Portugal and southern France. How Solutreans arrive and carry their tools across North America is questionable, however, the tools are there and seem to lead to Clovis tool creation later. See 13,000 years ago.

38 000 BP

Beringia, a the land bridge connects Siberia to Alaska during the last Glacial Maximum. Sea levels are around 400 feet lower than today.

A second group enters 16,500 BP, mix with the local populations and quickly migrate south, all the way to South America.

A third group possibly enter Beringia 15,000 BP.

40 800 BP

Cave art is created in the European El Castillo cave. The art indicates Homo Sapien & Neanderthals are both capable of artistic self expression. Source Discover Magazine January / February 2013

Other old drawings were found on the island of Sulawesi, in Indonesia. at least 35,400 years old. Source

42 000 BP

Mungo man lives in the dunes of a long gone lake, Lake Mungo in Australia, as indicated by a skeleton found and dated to 42,000 years ago.

43 000 BP

Flute, maybe the oldest known musical instrument created from bird bone and mammoth ivory was found in a cave in southern Germany and dated to 43 ooo years ago.

50 000 BP

World's oldest needle

A needle 7 centimeters (2 3/4 inch) long with a hole to insert a thread for sewing is in use where it is found in 2016 at the Denisovans Cave where Denisovans live. Source

64 800 BP

Art is created in three caves in Iberia, Spain. Art found is dated to 64 800 years ago. The date implies the art has a Neanderthal origin, since humans did not arrive until thousands of years later. Source Science. U-Th dating of carbobate crusts reveals Neanderthal origin of Iberian cave art 2-22-2018

100 000 BP

Homo sapiens Qafzeh live in caves of Qafzeh, east of Nazareth, Israel. Bones are classified as Homo sapien and dated to 92,000 years old.

Additional remains were found at Skhul, on Mount Carmel, Israel and labeled as Homo sapiens Skhul and dated to 115,000 years old. These remains indicate lanky slender bodies adapted to hot moist climates and unsuitable for a cooler ice age that arrived around 75 000 years ago, which may have resulted in their extinction. Evidence also suggests Neanderthal, built more stocky, were better able to retain heat and survive through ice ages. While none of these may have meet during this time in this area of the world it does suggest their existence overlapped. SourceWhen Neanderthals Replaced Us by Theodora Sutcliffe.

Blombos Cave South Africa artifacts suggest it is a red ochre factory. Artifacts incude: grindstones, pebbles dipped in ochre used as a stamp, abalone shells used as containers to mix ochre with bone, charcoal, quartz, and other materials to make paint, and the above artifact may be the earliest piece of art. Ochre is used as a cosmetic, sunscreen, mosquito repellent, medicine, antiseptic, and tanning and preserving hides.

Campfires are lit in a South Africa cave. Source Do campfires enable society? As groups can gather around the campfire.

180 000 BP

Misliya-1, Homo sapien at Misliya Cave, at Mount Carmel, Israel as indicated by an upper jawbone with teeth found there and dated to 180,000 years ago. Source

"While all of the anatomical details in Misliya-1 are fully consistent with modern humans, some features are also found in Neanderthals and other human groups ... ‚" Dr. Rolf Quam,

193 000 BP

Neanderthals also occupy Denisovan Cave on and off from 193,000 years ago until 97,000 years ago. Science May 2017

Also found there: Ornaments from bone, teeth, mammoth ivory, and ostrich shell deposited from 43,000 - 49,000 years ago. Science February 2019

200 000 BP

Homo sapiens evolve in Africa about 200,000 BP. Genetic similarities between Eurasians, Oceanians, and Americans indicate all non-African humans descended from a small population that left Africa about 60,000 BP.

Source Science December 8, 2017

287 000 BP

Denisovans move into the Denisova Cave, Russia and occupy it off and on from 287,000 to 50,000 BP. Denisovan artifacts, charcoal, DNA and one bone are left. DNA from the bone is found to be a young women whose mother is Neanderthal and father Denisovan. Science February 2019

A lower jaw bone found on the Tibetan Plateau is dated to at least 160 000 BP and proteins identify it as Denisovan. Source Science May 3, 2019.

780 000 BP

900 000 BP

Olorgesailie, Kenya is a prehistoric site where artifacts have been found dated from 1.2 million BP - 499,000 BP. A skill cap of a Homo erectus was found along with big Acheulean hand axe and scrapers used to butcher meat that dated to about 900,000 BP.

1.6 million BP

Homo ergaster is thought to be the first hominid with long striding legs. Campable of long sustained walking and running.

1.9 million BP

Australopithecus (southern ape) sediba lives in South Africa. An adult female and young are in a cavern near Johannesburg. Their specimens will be found by a 9 year old in 2008. Australopithecus sediba's hands and feet suggest it has grasping ablities to time climb trees and the ability to make tools. The remains suggest a direct link to Homo habilis. Source

2 million BP

Homo erectus use fire to cook meat many years before Homo Sapien appear.

2.6 million BP (Cenozoic Era, Miocene Epoch 24 - 1.8 mya)

It appears humans begin to eat meat and use weapons, around this time period as stone tools are found at Gona, Ethiopia and dated to 2.6 million BP.
These tools match tools known as the Oldowan, named after Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, where Louis Leakey found similar tools in the 1930s. Those tools were so well knapped that they were believed to have evolved from a less technological tool-making culture.

A strong similarity between marks these tools made and the marks on fossil zebra bones, indicate stone tools were used to butcher animals by at least 2.6 million BP. Humans and food source

2.8 million BP

Fossilized jaw found at Ledi-Geraru, Ethiopia dates as 2.8 million years old and classified in the Homo genus.

3.18 million BP

Lucy roams across Ethiopia, Africa

Discovered in 1974 she is classified as Australopithecus afarenis. Upright a terrestrial hunter and gatherer that probable spent some time in trees. It has been speculated that fractures she suffered might have been from falling.

"Afarensis was small and completely non-technological. No one has ever argued that they were predatory. They are bipedal, ground-eating apes," Michael Bisson

3.3 million BP

Stone tools at the Lomekwi site near Kenya's Lake Turkana were found by Sonia Harmand and her team, which were dated to 3.3 million years old . Source

3.3 - 3.5 million BP

A hominin jawbones was dated and classified as Australopithecus deyiremeda. They were found in the Afar region in Ethiopia. Source & image

3.6 million BP

Footprints at Laetoli near Olduvai. Believed the first evidence of bipedalism. Thought to be from three Australopithecus afarensis hominids who walked on volcanic ash, which is preserved, until Mary Leakey discovers them in 1978.

3.67 million BP

South Africa Sterkfontein Cave a hominid skeleton named Little Foot a female Australopithecus afarensis or A. prometheus is discovered in 1997 and exposed over the next twenty years. It has become the most complete skeleton of its kind found and dates to about 4 million BP. Australopithecus afarensis is believed to have lived around 2.9 million to 4.1 million BP. Source & images

EarthViewer - An interactive application to explore what the Earth looks like at different times. Explore what Earth looks like 250 million BP? Or 1 billion BP? Or 4.5 billion BP? EarthViewer lets you see continents grow and shift as you scroll through billions of years and explore changes in atmospheric composition, temperature, biodiversity, day length, and solar luminosity over deep time.

Beginning - Mesozoic era,
Paleozoic era, & Precambrian

Overview

Mesozoic era includes three periods

Cretaceous period is between 65.5 and 145.5 million BP.

Jurassic period 144-208 mya, &

Triassic period 208-245 mya

Paleozoic era about 251 - 540 million BP

Permian Period 245 - 280 mya

Carboniferous Period 280 - 360 mya

Devonian Period 360 - 408 mya

Silurian Period 408 - 438 mya

Ordovician Period 438 - 505 mya

Cambrian Period 500 - 540 mya

Precambrian 540 mya - 4.6 billion BP includes about 90% of the time the Earth has existed.

Summary of change

The Earth itself evolved over a very long time period, compared to human life spans. The millions of years eventually provided conditions and materials for habitats suitable for life to evolve complex organisms: most recently Homo sapien.

A geological period is a basic unit of geological time in which a single type of rock system is formed.

Mesozoic era 65.5 - 250 million BP

66 million BP (Mesozoic Era, Cretaceous Period 65.5 - 145.5 mya )

First snakes, crocodilians, and many flowering plants (angiosperms).

Mass extinction, known as the K-T extinction (Cretaceous - Tertiary extinction) and K-Pg (Cretaceous - Paleogene extinction) ends the Mesozoic Era Cretaceous Period with mass extinctions. The dinosaurs, ammonites, mollusks are among the 80% of life on Earth that is unable to survive during this time, known as one of the six mass extinctions. Thrived after mammals and birds. See PBS and what killed the dinosaur?

The asteroid, about 6 miles (10 km) in diameter, crashes in Chicxulub, Mexico creating a crater about 110 miles (180 km) in diameter and 18 miles (29 km) deep. The explosion releases as much energy as 100 trillion tons of TNT, more than a billion times more energy than the bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

About the same time period Deccan Traps in India erupted releasing significant amounts of volcanic ash over a time scale that extends before and after the Chicxulub impact. These eruptions likely also contributed to the K-T extinction. Source

85 million BP

Australia breaks away from Antarctica

174 million BP

200 million (Mesozoic Era, Jurassic Period 144-208 mya)

Oceans full of fish, squid, ammonites, the great ichthyosaurs and long-necked plesiosaurs. Huge plant-eating dinosaurs roam the Earth and eat huge ferns, palm-like cycads, and a type of seed plant, bennettitaleans. Smaller carnivores hunt the herbivores. Vertebrates take to the air, like the pterosaurs and the first birds. End triassic with volcanic activity in Atlantic Ocean. 80% of species conodont (robbon fish) and reptiles. Thrived dionosaurs, archosaur, and crocodile relatives.

300 million BP

Both oxygen and ozone levels reach current levels with many different kinds of complex land plants and animals.

360 million BP (Paleozoic Era, Carboniferous Period 280-360 mya)

Widespread coal swamps. First reptiles, winged insects.

End of Devonian with series of climate change. Possible volcanic activity in Siberia. Extinction of armored fish, coral, trilobites. Thrived vertebrates under one meter and tetrapods.

408 million BP (Paleozoic Era, Devonian Period 360-408 mya)

First amphibians, sharks, bony fish, ammonoids, and spiders. Many fish.

438 million BP (Paleozoic Era, Silurian Period 408-438 mya )

First insects, vascular plants on land.

450 million BP

The ozone level was close to its present value as land plants evolved.

End of Ordovician with climate shift from cold ice sheets to sudden melting. About 443 MYA. Extinction of trilobites, corals, brachiopods. Thrived sea sponges and brachiopods.

505 million BP (Paleozoic Era, Ordovician Period 438-505 mya )

First land plants, corals, Nautiloids. End in mass extinction.

540 million BP (Paleozoic Era, Cambrian Period 500 to 540 mya )

Evolution of many life forms. First shellfish, primitive fish, trilobites, corals, mollusks.

Precambrian 540 million BP

The Precambrium (a geologic time) starts with the Earth's formation, 4.6 billion BP and lasts to the beginning of the Paleozoic Era Cambrian Period, 540 mya.

The Precambrian is not considered a geologic eon, era, period, or epoch, it is simplied referred to as Precambrian or Precambrian Time. It spans most of the Earth's history (90%).

Oxygen concentration increased to about ten percent of the current level.

3.5 billion BP

Cyanobacteria, an oxygen-producing organism evolve. These organisms use carbon dioxide and water for photosynthesis and release oxygen as a waste product. Over time, the oxygen they produce accumulate in the atmosphere where some is converted to ozone, which is important for the development of life on land, because it protects Earth's surface from too much ultraviolet radiation that is fatal to life.

3.9 billion BP

First life on Earth. Microfossils of tiny creatures were found locked in different samples of rock from northern Canada. One sample dated from 3.8 - 4.3 billion years and another sample dated to 3.95 billion years.

4.1

Earth cools enough to form liquid water and solid land.

4.6 billion BP

Earth's primitive atmosphere and oceans evolve complex molecules (maybe RNA) that the will evolve into the first living cells.

4.51 billion BP

Moon forms

4.53 billion BP

Earth forms

4.6 billion BP

Birth of Solar System

13.1 billion BP

First black hole forms

13.8 billion BP

Big bang ... The creation of the Universe. Creation logically has three options:

A cataclysmic creation - most likely

A non creation - meaning the Universe is always in existence

A Universe that is an illusion - meaning it doesn't exist as a physical entity.